Digital Longevity

[Bebulamar]

You can simply write down the binary code for the image plus the encoding algorithm. Someone in the distance future should be able to reconstruct your image precisely from that.

 

[WayneF]

In the last few years, there is now a M-disk, a type of DVD claimed to have a life of 1000 years. It is available at Amazon, not expensive ($30 for ten 4.7GB, or 100GB for $27 each), and there are drives that can write them. Not the same as longevity, but it has passed stress tests by the Dept of Defense. It would provide color, and to me, that sounds like a better bet than the gelatin or polyester film bases.

Maybe we should write uncompressed data to be easier when unknown in the future? I don't know if they compressed theirs, but heck, movies have shown us that we can decode alien binary data from space.

 

[Watchful]

In the last few years, there is now a M-disk, a type of DVD claimed to have a life of 1000 years. It is available at Amazon, not expensive ($30 for ten 4.7GB, or 100GB for $27 each), and there are drives that can write them. Not the same as longevity, but it has passed stress tests by the Dept of Defense. It would provide color, and to me, that sounds like a better bet than the gelatin or polyester film bases.

Maybe we should write uncompressed data to be easier when unknown in the future? I don't know if they compressed theirs, but heck, movies have shown us that we can decode alien binary data from space.

I mentioned the m-disc above, I use BD not DVD for more space per disc, but same organic technology.
I use an LG BD writer multi drive to write them.
I create and burn movies so I had the writer anyways and started using m-disc when it came on the market.
M-disc has a life of at least 1000 years, could easily be double that.

 

[table1349]

In the last few years, there is now a M-disk, a type of DVD claimed to have a life of 1000 years. It is available at Amazon, not expensive ($30 for ten 4.7GB, or 100GB for $27 each), and there are drives that can write them. Not the same as longevity, but it has passed stress tests by the Dept of Defense. It would provide color, and to me, that sounds like a better bet than the gelatin or polyester film bases.

Maybe we should write uncompressed data to be easier when unknown in the future? I don't know if they compressed theirs, but heck, movies have shown us that we can decode alien binary data from space.

I mentioned the m-disc above, I use BD not DVD for more space per disc, but same organic technology.
I use an LG BD writer multi drive to write them.
I create and burn movies so I had the writer anyways and started using m-disc when it came on the market.
M-disc has a life of at least 1000 years, could easily be double that.

Wow, I didn't know m disks had been around for 1000 years. Sounds like a Gutenberg m-disk would be easier.

Are they good? Yes. I will buy the 1000 year thing 999 years from now.

 

[WayneF]

Wow, I didn't know m disks had been around for 1000 years.

Everyone can learn something from the internet.

 

[table1349]

Wow, I didn't know m disks had been around for 1000 years.

Everyone can learn something from the internet.

Yep, I've learned that Betamax wasn't the VCR to go with.
DVD's weren't the last word in recording devices, nor would they last the predicted 100 years or more,
And if a guy tells you he is a french fashion model on the internet it just might not be true.

They are better than the other optical devices right now, but I will reserve judgment for another 999 years.

However if the nuns tell me it is so, I might change my mind after 500 years.

 

[480sparky]

Never believe everything you read on the internet.
.................................................................-Thomas Jefferson

 

[petrochemist]

You guys make some good points. I was particularly thinking about the idea of the great grand kids finding an old hard drive of grandpas photos in a trunk in the attic and not having any way to see them (assuming the hard drive still worked). But I guess if you found a 50 year old negatives in the attic now it's not like you would just pop them in your computer. You'd have to take them somewhere that did that kind of work. So I guess that's no different than having to take a HDD to someone that could still work with the then obsolete technology.

The lady giving the presentation did say she loved her digital camera and checks all the time to see if the National Library of Congress will except digital yet.

I've found 100 year old glass negatives at my parents house. If you hold them up or put a sheet of blank paper behind they are clearly visible. There's enough visible even without this for someone not knowing photography to realize there's an image present, and a fairly good chance they'd be able to make it out eventually.
If not updated digital data will become unreadable. But if it's data that you want to keep, it's much safer as exact copies can be kept on different locations (even different continents for the ultimate bomb proofing). Transferring to new physical media types is relatively easy, and even re-coding to a different format is not much of an issue. Actively archived digital data should keep much longer than film.

 

[table1349]

Never believe everything you read on the internet.
.................................................................-Thomas Jefferson

No, no, no..... That was Lincolc that said that.

 

[robbins.photo]

Never believe everything you read on the internet.
.................................................................-Thomas Jefferson

No, no, no..... That was Lincolc that said that.

Pretty sure I read on a blog where Lincoln actually stole that from Jefferson

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk

 

[table1349]

Never believe everything you read on the internet.
.................................................................-Thomas Jefferson

No, no, no..... That was Lincolc that said that.

Pretty sure I read on a blog where Lincoln actually stole that from Jefferson

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk

Who stole it from Shakespeare ....

 

[robbins.photo]

Actually pretty sure Shakespeare said "Believeth not all that thou readeth on thine internet, for thine ISP is not but a nesteth of viper. Thine cruel, outrageous slingers of misfortune and woe"

Apparently AOL overcharged him at some point and he was pretty cheesed.

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk

 

[table1349]

For those that are truly serious about long term image storage. Scientists Using DNA to Store Digital Photos for Centuries

 

[480sparky]

Jeffersons quote starts with Never . Lincolns starts with Don't .

 

[Watchful]

You guys make some good points. I was particularly thinking about the idea of the great grand kids finding an old hard drive of grandpas photos in a trunk in the attic and not having any way to see them (assuming the hard drive still worked). But I guess if you found a 50 year old negatives in the attic now it's not like you would just pop them in your computer. You'd have to take them somewhere that did that kind of work. So I guess that's no different than having to take a HDD to someone that could still work with the then obsolete technology.

The lady giving the presentation did say she loved her digital camera and checks all the time to see if the National Library of Congress will except digital yet.

I've found 100 year old glass negatives at my parents house. If you hold them up or put a sheet of blank paper behind they are clearly visible. There's enough visible even without this for someone not knowing photography to realize there's an image present, and a fairly good chance they'd be able to make it out eventually.
If not updated digital data will become unreadable. But if it's data that you want to keep, it's much safer as exact copies can be kept on different locations (even different continents for the ultimate bomb proofing). Transferring to new physical media types is relatively easy, and even re-coding to a different format is not much of an issue. Actively archived digital data should keep much longer than film.

That is incorrect, digital data stored in a glass matrix will remain readable for hundreds of thousands of years and survive extremes in temperature humidity and other environmental factors that will quickly destroy other methods of storage.
The storage allows unprecedented properties including 360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1,000°C and virtually unlimited lifetime at room temperature (13.8 billion years at 190°C ) opening a new era of eternal data archiving. As a very stable and safe form of portable memory, the technology could be highly useful for organisations with big archives, such as national archives, museums and libraries, to preserve their information and records.
M-discs do not need to be re-written to remain intact and fully operable.

Eternal 5D data storage could record the history of humankind | University of Southampton
Torture testing the 1,000 year DVD | ZDNet